How much would YOU pay for a Ferrari 250?

A 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa Prototype sold during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for a whopping $16.39 million, making this lithe red racing car the most expensive vehicle ever sold at auction. Built for racing – and not white suit-wearing Miami detectives like the mid-engine 1980s version – the original pontoon-fenderedTesta Rossa is widely considered one of the most beautiful cars ever created. The name, Italian for “red head,” is derived from the car’s red valve covers.

Hot on the heels of this phenomenal Ferrari was a 1931 Duesenberg Model J “Whittell Coupe,” which sold for $10.34 million. This represents a new record price for an American car sold at auction. In total, Gooding & Company, the official auction house of the Pebble Beach weekend, sold in excess of $78 million in collector cars. That’s proof the recession might finally be coming to an end, or wealthy investors are giving up on volatile stocks for something a lot more fun to own.

Other notable sales included a 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider, which sold for $3.35 million, a $2.58 million sale of a Shelby Cobra 289 Factory Team Car, along with the sale of Bentley’s oldest surviving production car, a 1921 Bentley 3-Liter which found a new home once bidding stopped at $962,500.